Jump to content

Should drugs be legalised?


Should drugs be legalised?  

193 members have voted

  1. 1. Should drugs be legalised?

    • Yes
      74
    • No
      86
    • Its not a yes/no question
      43
    • Undecided
      2


Recommended Posts

I know piles of folk who takes drugs and apart from that they are law abidieing, hard working good people, I dont think they should be criminalised just because of that. Surley an adult should have the choice what they do to their body. People dont want to face the fact that people take drugs because shock horror they make you feel good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

 

Drug user/addicts ARE nutters. No question, no doubt, absolutely, 100% are nutters (i can think of betters names for them however). Anybody that thinks otherwise - i.e. they can abuse illegal (and they are illegal for a reason) sustances, abuse their bodies, engage in illegal activities to fund addiction and generally remove themselves from human civilized society are the people that need to join the real world.

 

The health service is kept damn busy treating the addicts of legal drugs. Why on earth should we legalize other drugs? So people can make legal money from it? So the Government can tax it? So people can become addicts easier? So that drugs are cheaper or purer? Just so current addicts can feel better about it? So they can openly wander into the health centre and demand medical treatment? I see no good reason.

 

Drug takers will kill themselves off one at a time (destroying families as they go) and to be brutal about it, i say let them - survival of the smartest.

 

In my opinion, when you volunteer yourself to illegal drugs you give up your rights to be treated the same as the rest of the law abiding public.

It sounds to me like you haven't actually got much of a clue about "DRUGS". You're just hearing the word and going off on a high horse rant about it. Have you never had a drink in your life? Never tried a cigarette? Never taken any prescribed drugs or things bought from a chemist? All of those and all illegal drugs can be harmful if addiction occurs or too much is taken in one go. Moderation is the key. Also, if illegal drugs were legalized then they would hopefully be less harmful because the quality of them could be openly controlled. It's wrong in my opinion to make a sweeping generalisation about drugs. There is a huge variation in the dangers and effects of various drugs and alcohol and tobacco (our socially acceptable recreational drugs) do alot of damage. If there were alternatives to what people could legally choose there wouldn't be so much abuse of alcohol and tobacco. Like you said, 'survival of the smartest'. Not everyone who trys some kind of drug for fun ends up destroying their lives. Far from it. Drugs will never go away so we should legalize everything. Alcohol is mind altering and addictive and even a little hangover lets us know it's doing harm but it's been legal forever in some places but far from everyone is messed up on it. Personal choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you never had a drink in your life? Never tried a cigarette? Never taken any prescribed drugs or things bought from a chemist?

 

Yes, i've had a drink in the past, but, i've also seen people close to me be destroyed by alcohol. I also believe that if drink wasn't so readily available they would be alive now, but that's a different stroy.

 

I can honestly say i have never once had a cigarette. Why would anybody, stick a pile of dangerous chemicals together, set fire to them and then breathe in the fumes - idiotic in my opinion.

 

Prescribed drugs and those from the chemist come with proper instructions for safe usage - don't they? Follow the instructions and there is very little chance of problems. What kind of useage is safe for the 'recreational' drug being talked about? People don't listen to the information regarding alcohol?

 

Is moderation the key to cigarettes? Don't try and tell me that one a day is alright! Moderate intake of red wine has medical advantages but alcohol in general (and i'm talking about the public) is not taken in moderation. What is the daily safe intake of alcohol? And how many people stick to that when they go out? Not many I wouldn't think.

 

If there were alternatives to what people could legally choose there wouldn't be so much abuse of alcohol and tobacco.

 

Are you saying that if someone had the option to smoke canabis instead of tobacco legally, the number of lung cancer patients would decrease?

 

Drugs will never go away so we should legalize everything.

 

People are always breaking the speed limit, does that mean we should do away with it? Laws are set to protect the public from themselves and to safeguard others. We can't legalize drugs just because they will never go away, c'mon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I can honestly say i have never once had a cigarette. Why would anybody, stick a pile of dangerous chemicals together, set fire to them and then breathe in the fumes - idiotic in my opinion.

Yes quite. I wish I'd never started smoking myself. There's no pleasure in it. Just pure addiction. I've tried alot of other drugs too and don't regret and am not addicted to any of them.

 

Prescribed drugs and those from the chemist come with proper instructions for safe usage - don't they? Follow the instructions and there is very little chance of problems. What kind of useage is safe for the 'recreational' drug being talked about? People don't listen to the information regarding alcohol?

Some people do. People like yourself. Prescribed drugs may come with instructions for proper use but some people don't follow them. The point is, most people have enough sense to follow them. If all drugs were legalized then perhaps we could move toward finding safe dosages and instructions for careful use.

 

Is moderation the key to cigarettes? Don't try and tell me that one a day is alright!

Actually it probably would be but tobacco is so highly addictive that it's virtually impossible to never increase intake.

 

If there were alternatives to what people could legally choose there wouldn't be so much abuse of alcohol and tobacco.

 

Are you saying that if someone had the option to smoke canabis instead of tobacco legally, the number of lung cancer patients would decrease?

Not sure about that one but it's possible. Cannabis is less harmful to the lungs than tobacco but mixing the two together is more dangerous than tobacco on it's own. I'm talking purely about the physical effects here.

 

Drugs will never go away so we should legalize everything.

 

People are always breaking the speed limit, does that mean we should do away with it? Laws are set to protect the public from themselves and to safeguard others. We can't legalize drugs just because they will never go away, c'mon!

Got any better ideas on how to control them then? The laws at present just aren'tworking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree the laws aren't being fully enforced (probably due to the scale of the problam and resources) at the moment and an obvious fix isn't... ehhh... obvious! However, that still isn't a reason to legalize anything.

 

Supply has to be stopped and those with their heads in the sand saying: they aren'y really doing any harm should wise up to the fact that drug abuse is not socially acceptable. Personal choice isn't an issue, if my personal choice is to own a hand gun and fire it into the voe every now and again, the police will soon stop me. Even if i'm not harming anybody.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Anonymous

you still dont have a clue sudden stop , man has been experimenting with substances to change thier conciousness in every corner of the globe for thousands of years , it can be argued that such activities were part of the founding of civilization as we know it , rleigous belief can also be closely linked to such activities.

you should try a blast of LSD and loosen your narrow mind up a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you still dont have a clue sudden stop , man has been experimenting with substances to change thier conciousness in every corner of the globe for thousands of years , it can be argued that such activities were part of the founding of civilization as we know it , rleigous belief can also be closely linked to such activities.

you should try a blast of LSD and loosen your narrow mind up a bit.

 

So it's the old: 'But that's how it's always been' arguement! Ha! :roll:

 

The founding of civilization?! So was ritualistic scarifice and i believe that has been outlawed for a reason.

 

Man has been doing all manner of down right stupid things for thousands of years. Don't you think that we may have learned from the mistakes of history and to reverse laws that were made to protect the public would be stupid?

 

And are there a lot of priests/ministers advocating that you should be able to buy heroin at Safeways?

 

My narrow mind has managed to keep me well entertained over the years without the need to mug people to go and buy the latest fix. Legalizing drugs would be a step backwards for mankind - end of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what are your impressions of the US Governments / right wing lobby attempt at "Prohibition" in the early part of the last century?

 

The "War on Drugs" that is bandied about is not a war on drugs! It is simply a war on economics; a war on supply and demand. Historically, no war against this has ever been won.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Prohibition didn't work really did it? Leave it to the Americans to go too far. A total outright ban of something as widespread and so commonly consumed as alcohol was 'ambitious' at best. Even alcohol free countries (like some in the middle east) which have religious reasons against it have a thriving black market and their version of prohibition wasn't a law simply activated on a certain date. Implimenting it again for alcohol would be difficult because of the money already being made from sales and export and the politcal power of big companies/industry. The related taxes are already budgeted for and the companies are already well estabished with 1000s of staff, the drug trade isn't the same. The only people that would be out of pocket if the drug trade was somehow magically stopped are the professional criminals who are the only source at the moment.

 

I, for one, wouldn't loose a lot of sleep if prohibition was forced upon us, I like a drink from time to time but there's no overriding desire for it. But it wouldn't work. It's too easy to produce and there are too many people that believe they need the stuff. Taxation of alcohol and cigarettes is the best why to reduce usage - make it more expensive to obtain and eventually there'll be a 'only for special occassions' tag on both. If you open the floodgates for drugs the price will drop and usage will inevitably increase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My point is that alcohol is too widespread, for a overnight ban to be an effective course of action in the long run. You almost have to ween the country off it over the course of many years to a level where people are educated enough to see what they are doing to themself and their impression of alcohol has changed. How long has the change in attitude towards smoking taken? Alcohol abuse has to be tackled as well as drugs but gradually.

 

In comparsion, the current illegal (and thus total ban) status of recreational drugs is not the same as a total ban on drink as society already sees the related problems, there aren't 1000s of people directly employeed by it and the government doesn't have worry about making drug dealers unemployed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taxation of alcohol and cigarettes is the best why to reduce usage - make it more expensive to obtain and eventually there'll be a 'only for special occassions' tag on both.

 

You really believe this tired old "how Gordon Broon justifies his latest tax hike" piece of spin do you?

 

I take you you have no comprehension of the scale of the black market in tobacco and alcohol driven purely by demand and middle man profits then?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't for a second believe that Gordon increases taxes on drink or fags OR FUEL for that matter in order to change our habits. But if they ever did actually want to do something about the problems, taxation would be a start. I'm not talking about 5 pence on a pint or a packet of fags but a quid at a time(can't believe i'm saying this). That really would make people think. Instead of going out and having ten pints in a night, five might be enough to empty your pocket.

 

And yes, i am aware of the black market sales of alcohol and cigarettes. This is tax dodging though and a case for HM customs and excise not for the police force. So long as drugs are illegal, the police force at large is responsible for enforcement. And they have far more resources and staff to deal with offenders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<--snip--> I'm not talking about 5 pence on a pint or a packet of fags but a quid at a time(can't believe i'm saying this). That really would make people think. Instead of going out and having ten pints in a night, five might be enough to empty your pocket.

 

Considering somewhere around £3+ of every £5+ pack of 20 goes straight in to the coffers of Mr Brown, I think a lot of people have already done their thinking, and it seems to me they're thinking they're thoroughly fed up of being ripped off and paying £3+ a pop for nothing and have simply taken their business elsewhere.

 

As long as someone can source supplies to sell on cheaper than tax inclusive price yet still take a profit themselves, someone will be doing it and plenty of people will be buying. Higher cost maybe deters some from using/using so much, but it equally causes a black market which makes a total mockery of any supposed controls and regulations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...